Autism advocacy groups that support the idea of a link between vaccines and the development of autism said a ruling handed down Thursday by a special court was devastating -- but that it will not sway them from their cause.

The Vaccine Court Omnibus Autism Proceeding ruled against the parents of Michelle Cedillo, Colten Snyder and William Yates Hazlehurst, who had claimed that a measles, mumps and rubella vaccines had combined with other vaccine ingredients to damage the three children.

While American consumers are running scared over the possibility of tainted peanut butter, it's worth pointing out that the number of people sickened by salmonella (529 at last count) is absolutely dwarfed by the number of people harmed or killed by toxic chemicals that are intentionally put into the food supply.

How many children die of cancer each year from eating sodium nitrite in hot dogs, bacon and processed meat?

And for that matter, how many U.S. adults have been killed by FDA-approved pharmaceuticals? That number is at least 100,000 per year and may be much higher. At 100,000 deaths per year, over 8,300 Americans are killed every month by Big Pharma's medicines.

In contrast to all that, how many people have been killed by tainted peanut butter?

Amanda Kitts lost her left arm in a car accident three years ago, but these days she plays football with her 12-year-old son, and changes diapers and bearhugs children at the three Kiddie Cottage day care centers she owns in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Grady Jackson, a defensive tackle with the Atlanta Falcons, said he used the weight-loss capsules. Kathie Lee Gifford was enthusiastic about them on the “Today” show. Retailers like GNC and the Vitamin Shoppe sold them, no prescription required.

But the Food and Drug Administration now says those weight-loss capsules, called StarCaps and promoted as natural dietary supplements using papaya, could be hazardous to your health. In violation of the law, the agency has found, the capsules also contained a potent pharmaceutical drug called bumetanide which can have serious side effect.